Mijikenda line plot for Mombasa governor seat – Weekly Citizen

The Mijikenda community in Mombasa city county are mulling over how to unite and take over the governorship after the current term of Governor Hassan Joho.Among issues under discussion by a committee formed to finetune the roadmap towards realisation of the leadership goal, is how to defeat with the assumption from Swahili and Arabs that the Mijikenda in spite of being majority with about 60pc of the vote in the port city can never unite for any political course because of factors like poverty.“We know many people don’t take us seriously when we say we will unite to takeover leadership positions in Mombasa. But the kind of civic education and other strategies we have put in place going forward will definitely catch up with our opponents flatfooted in 2022,” said one of the Mijikenda elites involved in the leadership agenda.

Mishi Mboko

It has emerged that several Mijikenda candidates are being looked at closely by the committee to eventually decide who among them is most suitable to carry out on with the task of delivering the governorship seat to the community after Joho exits.But those at the top of the list include who immediate former Mombasa county secretary Francis Thoya and Kisauni MP Ali Menza Mbogo.

The two are being weighed against each other like the Mombasa deputy governor William Kingi and Likoni MP Mishi Mboko.Thoya who was nicknamed Magufuli during his tenure as CS due to his ability to deliver difficult tasks at short notice has become a popular figure in the port city since his removal.

ALI MENZA

He has attracted a lot of sympathy from Mijikenda and others who say he was the force behind implementation of several projects in the port city and that his removal was maliciously orchestrated.“We know that Thoya’s removal was engineered by political busy bodies who felt threatened by his growing profile but let them know we have bigger plans for him and they cannot stop the will of the people.We want him to become the next governor to improve the deplorable state that Mombasa finds itself today due to mediocre leadership,” said Hassan Rama, a human rights activist.

Nasssir

Thoya it has emerged has been in constant meetings with various groups and opinion leaders in Mombasa to seek for backing ahead of 2022. So far, he is said to have mastered an overwhelming support among Luos who view him as their kin as his mother is from Kendu Bay, Homa Bay county.For Mbogo, the Kisauni MP, his shift to align himself with Joho camp has not been received well among Mijikenda with the feeling that his political influence in Mombasa has been watered down by the governor.

Mohamed Ali

Recently, his political advisers worried about the legislator’s dwindling political fortunes advised him to remain in Wiper party and reach out to party leader Kalonzo Musyoka so as to retain the Mombasa Kamba support base which he has since lost.Mbogo who won his Kisauni seat on a Wiper ticket first ‘defected’ to William Ruto’s Tanga Tanga wing for several months before he made a u-turn and joined Joho’s political camp after being convinced by political brokers that the Mombasa county chief would endorse her as his successor if he stopped criticising him. Mohammed Ali the Nyali MP is also going for the county top seat just like current Mvita Abdulswamad Nassir.